Power, Passion and Beauty - The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra - Special Edition eBook 2013

By Walter Kolosky

2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the tumultuous break-up of the greatest band that ever was, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The group, founded by British guitarist John McLaughlin, was the first to fuse jazz, rock and world music into critical and commercial success. In a remarkable feat, its pure instrumental albums were able to find their way into the tops of the Billboard rock charts. The Special Edition eBook "Power, Passion and Beauty - The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra" is the updated version of Walter Kolosky's critically acclaimed work first published in 2006. The Special Edition eBook is brand new to those who have not read the original printed version of this riveting story. For those that have, however, many new anecdotes, insights, opinions, and an extra chapter updating the story of Mahavishnu have been added. The list of those exclusively sharing their views and memories of Mahavishnu for the original book was staggering. Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Pat Metheny, Sir George Martin, Jeff Beck, all of the original Mahavishnu members and almost 150 other music giants helped tell the Mahavishnu tale. This time around, Carlos Santana, Chick Corea, Steve Howe and many other noted artists, producers, audio engineers and spiritual travelers join them add to the legend that is the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Walter Kolosky
• Release date: Sep 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9780976101680

Walter Kolosky

Music journalist Walter Kolosky is best known for his work on the music of the guitarist/composer John McLaughlin. He gave a lecture about that music at the Cordoba Guitar Festival in Cordoba, Spain. Kolosky is the author of the acclaimed book about the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Power, Passion and Beauty. Follow Your Heart (2011), continues his study of McLaughlin's music song by song since 1969. An updated 2013 Special Edition eBook of Power, Passion and Beauty was released in late 2012.

Book preview

POWER, PASSION AND BEAUTY

The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra

(Special Edition eBook 2013)

by

Walter Kolosky

Smashwords Edition

Printed version published (2006) by Abstract Logix Books

* * * * *

Power, Passion and Beauty

Copyright 2012 by Walter Kolosky

ISBN: 978-0-9761016-8-0

Editors:

H.L. Tsai

Roderick A. Sibley

Theodore McCallion

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this eBook.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal use only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

* * * * *

Steve Howe: ...in terms of influencing Yes, the Mahavishnu Orchestra was part of a big jigsaw puzzle. We looked up to very few bands. That is not meant in a disrespectful way, but people like Mahavishnu were seen more like gods to us. I mean, I think we were good musicians and played what people considered to be very complicated music, but it didn’t compare.

Peter Max: Music, as with painting, is a process of creativity. The universe is the ultimate creation and as artists we allow this creativity to flow through us. When I approach a canvas my only expectation is to be surprised. In the same way the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s surprising use of energy, which flowed through their music, created the colors and the textures of their sound. The music was structured to be sure, but the band possessed this unlimited capacity for original thought and spontaneous creativity. This combination is what I think everyone was responding to when they heard them for the first time. It was for me.

* * * * *

The OM symbol, as seen in the Mahavishnu Orchestra logo on cover of this eBook, has come down from the Hindu tradition from the ancient Sanskrit language. It is actually five separate symbols interconnected. In simplest terms, OM symbolizes three states of consciousness – the waking state, the dream state and the state of deep sleep. It also represents the supreme consciousness, or self, that illuminates and rules those three states.

* * * * *

Power, Passion and Beauty is dedicated to John, Billy, Jan, Jerry and Rick.

For Hatty and Anna

* * * * *

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Beginnings

The Mahavishnu Orchestra

Turbulence At 33,000 Feet

Everything After

Since Power, Passion And Beauty

Homage

Personnel

* * * * *

Introduction

It has been six years since the print version of this eBook was published. I cannot express enough gratitude to the thousands that have read the book, and to those that have written to say how much both the band and Power, Passion and Beauty have meant to their lives. Their very kind and supportive words inspired me to write another book, Follow Your Heart: John McLaughlin- Song By Song, which includes a foreword by Chick Corea. This special edition eBook is also the result of many requests.

First-time readers of this story simply need only read from here on. For those of you returning to this book for a second or third time, there is plenty of new material to absorb. The introductory biographies of the players have been changed for a better editorial presentation only. Elsewhere, however, recently discovered information, comments from new contributors such as Carlos Santana, Chick Corea, Steve Howe and many others, and additional anecdotes have been placed strategically into the existing narrative. An extra chapter that brings the Mahavishnu story fully up to date has also been added.

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of sitting in the audience at the Regattabar in Cambridge, Massachusetts listening to the wonderful duo of pianist Christopher O’Riley and cellist Matt Haimovitz. Both players have outstanding classical pedigrees and have guested with the world’s greatest symphony orchestras so many times that it becomes difficult to count. In addition, O’Riley is the host of the very popular NPR and PBS (National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service) radio and television program From the Top, which showcases the talent of younger classical musicians. Haimovitz also teaches young musicians at McGill University in Montreal. Together, recording and on tour, they offer a mix of classical pieces and interpretive O’Riley arrangements of contemporary music from the likes of Radiohead, Arcade Fire and Cocteau Twins. Most often, O’Riley gives Haimovitz the juicier parts because of the lead nature of the cello in the duo context, but both players rock the music out. My attention to the pair came first, because of Haimovitz’s having recorded with John McLaughlin, and second, because of their recent collaborative efforts on a couple of Mahavishnu Orchestra songs.

I was told ahead of time that The Dance of Maya would be included in the set. The loudest and longest cheers of the night followed their rendition of the Mahavishnu classic. This was not surprising to this listener. After all, I have been professionally extolling the majesty of Mahavishnu music for years.

Mahavishnu, the word itself, has become synonymous with the jazz-rock genre and is used every day to describe music. (Mahavishnu-like should be listed in the dictionary.) However, musicians such as O’Riley and Haimovitz know that the true greatness of the Mahavishnu Orchestra canon is the very fact that it’s ultimately genre-less. It can thrill in rock, jazz, big band, classical, country, world, Indian, flamenco traditions or any pot it is thrown into. Thank God there are musicians who keep finding the Mahavishnu Orchestra and leading others to it. Because of their interpretive efforts, curious listeners will seek out the original Mahavishnu and have the chance for that magic moment of first discovery. I am quite jealous of those who have not yet heard the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but are destined to.

Born Too Late

In 1973, when I was 16 years old, I realized that I had been born too late for my own life. The victim of a slight tweak in divine calculation, I was delivered on this earth three years late. In terms of the history of the universe, this cosmic blunder represented less than a nanosecond, but to me, it may as well have been a millennium.

Up to that pivotal year, inexperience – the disadvantage of youth – prevented me from having a fuller understanding of the world around me. I was nothing more than an unengaged, dispassionate observer.

My self-identity, as happens with many others, first began to crystallize when I discovered the joy of music. I had no God-given musical talent, but I was learning that I was just as important as any musician. I was a listener. I was at the other end of the most powerful communication there was.

At first, as with all of my friends, I gravitated toward the rock music of the day. I loved the Beatles, of course, but they had already broken up. My record collection was filled with the likes of Black Sabbath, Ten Years After, The Who, Hendrix and Deep Purple. I went to rock concerts to see Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Eric Clapton, Elton John and scores more. I knew what great music was. Or, so I thought.

Barely awake late one night, I had half an eye on my television. What was supposed to be just another rock band on ABC Television’s In Concert show appeared on the screen. The weirdly named Mahavishnu Orchestra was new to me, but within seconds its music grabbed me, shook me awake, and threw me to the floor. I had never seen, heard or felt anything like that.

The guitarist was playing a huge electric guitar that had two necks. He looked like a warrior brandishing a dangerous weapon. His uniform was all white. His hair was cropped short. He looked holy - a holy soldier. The muscled drummer was wildly flailing away. He lost his drumstick, but grabbed another and continued to play away without missing a beat. The keyboard player was hunched over, a grimace on his face. The electric bassist was playing a see-through instrument. There was also a bedraggled-looking, long-haired hippie playing an electric violin. I was quite used to seeing bedraggled, long-haired hippies. Part of me actually wanted to be one, but I had never seen a violin in a rock band.

This was unlike any music I had ever heard! The overwhelming power of it all threatened to disintegrate my tiny TV. The faces of the players betrayed a great passion. The music was chaotic and headed in all directions at once. I didn’t know where the beat was, but I felt it right down into my marrow. Yet, somehow, the cacophony was amazingly beautiful. The TV concert crowd was in mass hyperventilation. I soon joined them, as my visual and aural senses became overloaded. My heart raced. I could feel blood rush through my veins. I stood up and paced. No sleep that night.

The next day I ran out and purchased my first Mahavishnu Orchestra album. I couldn’t wait to get home. I hurriedly put Birds of Fire on my turntable and turned out the lights in my room. Though I had no idea what my ears and body were experiencing, I was quickly caught in a vortex of odd rhythms and exotic repeating riffs from which there was no escape.

I can point to those few minutes as the true beginning of my self-discovery. Several days of research would further tell me that the Mahavishnu Orchestra had been around for a couple of years and the musical movement that spawned it had been around a bit longer. I had missed it all by about three years. I have been trying to catch up ever since.

Through my fascination with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, I learned about Miles Davis and John Coltrane and of all those that came before them. After all, music is the sum of all music that has come before it.

It turns out that the Mahavishnu Orchestra would end up doing so much more for me than just shape my musical tastes. Those few minutes of television changed my life. It is almost cliche to make such a claim, but this eBook is just the latest evidence. From the beginning, the study of this band helped me learn about the importance of shooting for excellence in all endeavors and the need to dedicate myself to true and certain goals. For those reasons, Power, Passion and Beauty is a very personal story for me.

Methodology and Format

It can be quite difficult getting some musicians to comment on work they did forty years ago. First, successful artists tend to be very busy. Second, memories fade. Third, true musicians focus on what they are doing now. Some of them would rather have their teeth pulled than talk about the past. This is especially true if the main characters probably don’t like each other. As you will read, the break-up of the original Mahavishnu Orchestra was a highly acrimonious affair. I didn’t hold out much hope that I would be able to get the cooperation of all of the band members. This belief was reinforced by almost everyone that had been close to the group.

I was determined to write Power, Passion and Beauty even without the cooperation of the principals. I therefore augmented my lifetime of Mahavishnu fandom with over 2,000 articles I and others had gathered. I also re-read the many books I had collected over the years that reference the band and the times.

Then, amazingly, every one of the original Mahavishnu Orchestra members agreed to participate.

As I began to interview them and many other people in the know, an alarming trend developed. I discovered that many of my cherished books and articles contained factual errors. A Mahavishnu Orchestra folklore had developed based upon faulty footnotes.

There are many fine writers who have chronicled Mahavishnu. However, because of the egregious factual errors I found, I could not rely on the material I had gathered. Sometimes you just have to throw away everything you think you know and start from a different place.

This eBook is a celebration of the music. You can’t have a true celebration unless you invite lots of people. I spoke or communicated with about 150 people for Power, Passion and Beauty. (More were added for this Special Edition eBook.) Among those who gladly contributed are some of the world’s foremost musicians, artists and jazz journalists.

At least 99% of the quotes in Power, Passion and Beauty were obtained specifically for this work. I interviewed participants either on the phone or through email. Four of the original Mahavishnu Orchestra band members, John McLaughlin, Jan Hammer, Rick Laird and Jerry Goodman were all interviewed numerous times by phone and through email. The fifth member, Billy Cobham, chose to participate through email only.

I also received a great deal of assistance from those involved with the Mahavishnu Orchestra from the very beginning. The people who help tell the story are either introduced or are well-known. My gratitude to all who aided me in this effort can be found in the liner notes (Personnel) at the end of this eBook.

Occasionally my comments would be intrusive, so I let the story tell itself through the words of the people who were there. Like a good jazz musician – sometimes you just have to get out of the way.

The format of Power, Passion and Beauty is inspired by the spirit of the music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. It may take you anywhere at anytime.

A moment of silence before we begin, please…

(July 2005) Vishnu Fest – Night One

It seemed to be a typical July summer night in New York City. The moist heat made it feel like you were wearing an extra layer of skin. Taxis were speeding up and down streets that smelled of baked asphalt and curb trash, an odor that New Yorkers probably don’t notice or choose not to. It was the perfect evening to go inside to do what you do when you are in this city – listen to some music. This night, however, would be anything but typical.

A couple hundred people were packed into The Cutting Room, a venue that is co-owned by musician Steve Walter and the actor Chris Noth. Noth is best known for his roles on American television including the infamous part of Mr. Big on Sex and the City and as Detective Mike Logan on the long running series Law & Order. The business partners had opened the club six years ago with the hopes of offering entertainment that reminded them of what they loved as they were growing up. They also wanted to foster new and emerging talent. On this particular night, and for the next two, these desires would become dually realized.

Just an hour before, the same room had been host to a show from the inimitable American comedienne Joan Rivers. Rivers is known for her celebrity put-down humor and for having undergone about a million plastic surgeries. She talks openly about these procedures in her act and often pulls in the audience with her trademark, Can we tawk?

Rivers’ fans were now replaced by a mix of young progressives; long-haired, graying, left-over hippies; self-proclaimed mystics and business types in silk suits ordering mixed drinks and champagne and a little late dinner.

At a prime table was guitarist John McLaughlin, a surprise guest. Sitting next to his wife, Ina, he was surrounded by some new friends, some old friends, his best friend Joseph D’Anna and music fans there to honor him, though he was not performing.

A bespectacled McLaughlin gazed at the stage. A permanent grin, teeth showing, was etched on his face as the evening’s festivities washed over him. This was the first of three evenings of Vishnu Fest. The brainchild of jazz drummer Gregg Bendian, Vishnu Fest was to be a celebration of the music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the revolutionary jazz-rock band. McLaughlin formed the group in 1971 after jazz legend Miles Davis told him it was time that he put his own band together. Over the next several years, the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s music would define what eventually became known commercially as fusion. Simply put, this new music was the combining, or fusing, of music genres. In this case, it was the clashing and co-mingling of electric jazz, rock, classical Indian music and so much more.

Bendian had been honoring the Mahavishnu Orchestra for several years with a band named the Mahavishnu Project. He believed that the music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra was of such high caliber that it should be treated like classical music.

Gregg Bendian: Ever since we started doing the Project about four years ago, I’ve had the feeling that our gigs were a kind of a celebration, a little party for all of us that love Mahavishnu music – I mean hey, that music changed my life! So, it was a natural extension of that idea to do Vishnu Fest. I knew that John was going to be in NYC and I knew that he had wanted to come hear us play live for some time. I wanted to give a big three-day party for John and we invited all the guys from the band. It still blows my mind that three of the five original members came down to hear us that week.

Bendian has performed and recorded with the likes of the pianist Cecil Taylor, Pat Metheny, Nels Cline and others. When he finds time apart from sideman duties and his other bands’ gigs, he tours with the Project. The band, which has featured different personnel through the years, has released two CDs of its interpretations of the original Mahavishnu music that have met with critical success, even receiving a rave review for the latest CD in DownBeat magazine just as the festival was kicking off. (Another CD has been added since.) Interest in the band has also been high enough to support tours of Europe. The band that night included Bendian, keyboardist Steve Hunt, bassist Chris Tarry, violinist Rob Thomas and guitarist Rocco Ziferelli.

Most of the younger fans at this show had no clue how popular the Mahavishnu Orchestra was in its day. They were there because they liked the stuff being played by the Mahavishnu Project.

More than thirty years after the original Mahavishnu Orchestra had splintered apart, and its other versions had run their courses, the older members of the crowd had come to relive their youth. Back in the day, they had been caught up in the band’s musical and spiritual aura and had never really been freed from it.

Gregg Bendian: The concept behind the program for the festival was that we would dig in and clearly show the breadth of the Mahavishnu book by playing as many tunes as we could, as well as playing variations of a few of the classic tunes over the course of the three nights.

One could only imagine what was going through McLaughlin’s mind as he sat there absorbing his past.

We will return to Vishnu Fest. First, however, there is a story to tell.

* * * * *

The Beginnings

One day when John McLaughlin was a kid, his amateur violinist mother Mary took away his guitar because the fingers on his left hand were bloody from playing it. John, so determined to produce what he was hearing inside himself, hadn’t even noticed his injuries. You would think an incident like that would stay with you. Strangely, John has no memory of the gruesome event except for his mother’s telling of it. Such wounds are but minor irritants to someone so determined to become one with his instrument.

John is the youngest of five children. His parents went their separate ways when he was only 7. He stayed with his mother and moved away from Yorkshire, England to a small seacoast village near the Scottish border. John has very little memory of his father, who was a turbo engineer by trade. His mother and his sister and his brothers, who were great intellects and would go on to careers in academia, supplied him with the tools for life.

All three of John’s brothers were musical as well. When he was 7, John’s family purchased a gramophone. Beethoven, Brahms and all the great classics were constantly being heard in the house. This provided John with a very good foundation for the appreciation of music. His mother sent him off to take some piano lessons when he was 9 years old.

When he was 11, John inherited an acoustic guitar from his brother David that had been passed down from each of his other brothers. One of them taught him a few chords. Through the chords he discovered the blues. That was it for him. John became an instant fan of blues legends Muddy Waters, Leadbelly and Big Bill Broonzy. He lived with the instrument day and night and began devoting every waking moment to its mastery. John taught himself to play – a process that continues today.

John McLaughlin: It’s not work. It’s not anything. It’s just you love that instrument so much and you just go for it.

When John was about 13 years old, he heard some Indian music on the radio. It made his hair stand on end. He did not pursue any further understanding of what he heard because it was from some far away place, but it had left its mark.

About a year later, John discovered flamenco. He was instantly attracted to it because he could feel the blues deep inside of it.

John played the guitar using his first fingernail to pluck the strings until he heard the great gypsy-jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. To play like him, John needed a pick.

While in school he played in three bands. He was in a skiffle outfit when he was about 14. (Skiffle is performed using unconventional instruments, such as washboards, jugs and kazoos, often mixed with conventional ones.) They were good enough to go out and gig. Another group was a traditional jazz band. The third unit was greatly influenced by jazz pianist George Shearing’s groups. The pianist would play block chords and McLaughlin would play the melodies.

There was no such thing as high school dances for John to play in those days.

John McLaughlin: We didn’t have any of that where I came from, but Mr. Watts, the smartest and nicest guy in the school, was the music teacher. Even though he was obliged to teach us classical music, because that was the curriculum in those days, when he knew we had a band, he said, OK, on music night you all come and you play for the class. This is really good if you’re going to stand up there and try to do it in front of your classmates. They’re all ready to laugh at you. You know that. At the drop of a hat they’ll laugh at you. They’re looking for any reason for you to mess up. God bless Mr. Watts. That’s all I can say. The rest of those teachers were – a bigger bunch of morons you can not find. They were sadistic morons. What a combination! We used to get the cane in those days.

Playing in front of the class provided much opportunity for young John to mess things up. He did so often, but the pressure of public performance did much to accelerate his learning process. He did not enjoy embarrassment and worked extra hard not to repeat his mistakes. One thing was already becoming clear about John. When John devotes himself to something – he devotes completely.

John McLaughlin: It was very stimulating for me to have the chance to play on a fairly regular basis in front of the class because it’s a public. No matter what kind of public it is, it’s a public. And the moment you stand up and try to do something in front of a public is when you start learning. And you start quickly discovering how really incompetent you are.

In 1958, when John was 16 years old, he left home to begin his professional music career. He moved to Manchester and played with Big Pete Deuchar and his Professors of Ragtime. John got some important experience under his belt before the band eventually broke up. He then decided to relocate to London.

John McLaughlin: I had so many jobs. I was a salesman. I drove a truck. I drove the kind of truck you can drive with a regular license. Even so, some of those trucks were pretty big. I used to sell caviar to hotels. I repaired instruments. I sold instruments. I just tried to stay near music, but you have to survive. You’ve got to make a living just to keep body and soul together.

McLaughlin hooked up with a good band, whose name has long since left his memory, that used to play all the hits for regular Friday and Saturday night dances. His first big break came when he landed a gig with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. Georgie’s band was jazz influenced and one of the most popular live acts in London.

John McLaughlin: This was good music. You’d be doing King Pleasure and Mose Allison tunes…It was R&B. Anyway, you take the R&B out of jazz you don’t have any jazz left, do you? Georgie had a great voice and played Hammond organ. It was a good band.

There was not a lot of money in it, but the music scene was really bustling in London. John had many opportunities to play. There were two main clubs during this time. There was the Flamingo, which eventually became the Flamingo Allnighter, and The Marquee. John was working about three nights a week, some weeks a little more. He participated in many after-hours jam sessions with some of the best musicians who would come to town.

John McLaughlin: At the Allnighter, we used to get Alexis Korner. Everybody and their grandmother were with Alexis. Mick Jagger was on vocals, Charlie Watts was on drums. Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker were in the band. Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith was in the band. John Mayall used to come by also. He had his band the Bluesbreakers. Eric (Clapton) was in the band in those days.

When John was 21, he joined the Graham Bond Quartet. Bond was a very charismatic keyboardist who would influence McLaughlin in other more personal ways. Bond introduced the young guitarist to the concept of self-realization. John would begin a lifelong investigation into the nature of being and consciousness. This would shape his approach to life and to music.

The Graham Bond Organization was a killer unit. Heckstall-Smith was also in the group. The real lure for John was that Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker made up the rhythm section. The two players, who would later go on to worldwide acclaim in the rock group Cream, were heavy stuff. Bruce was still playing upright bass at this time and Ginger Baker was banging away on a set of homemade drums. Often, a young musician named Gordon Sumner, not yet calling himself Sting, would come to see the group in the local clubs.

McLaughlin really cut his musical teeth, however, when he inherited a job with the Ray Ellington Quartet. Ellington, who’s real name was Ray Brown, was the son of an American comedian and a Russian mother. He had led quartets since back in the ’40s that featured the more accessible aspects of bebop music.

John McLaughlin: There was a show in England in the ’50s called The Goon Show. That is really where Monty Python got all their humor from. They were the originals: Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. This was before Peter Sellers became a movie star. The Ray Ellington Quartet was one of the hippest quartets. It was just piano, guitar, bass, and drums. Ray used to sing, but he was a good drummer too. It was the hardest guitar book in the world because we were playing big band arrangements. I got that gig from Johnny Fourie, who was a South African guitar player – a very fine guitar player, by the way – who was living in England at that time. I learned to read really fast. It was the most difficult book in the world!

John played with Ellington for about a year. After the experience in that band, he could read anything. This became well known around the music community. John soon found himself in great demand for studio work. He became, in his words, a studio shark.

He played hundreds of sessions. McLaughlin supplied guitar for records with Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Petula Clark and many others. He also played on some early David Bowie records. He would play for Dionne Warwick’s recordings in the U.K. Among the popular releases John appeared on were Los Bravos’ Black Is Black, and Humperdinck’s Release Me.

During this time he worked with composer Burt Bacharach and was heard on the soundtrack of the movie What’s New, PussyCat?

Back in those days, everyone was in the studio during recording sessions. Very rarely was there overdubbing.

John McLaughlin: I remember Burt had just gotten together with Angie Dickinson. She was in the control room blowing him kisses through the window. It was nice. They were in love. Burt is a really fine musician. He’s written some fantastic tunes. He knows his harmony and he’s really a well-schooled musician. I could see that from what I was playing in the movie score.

It was during this time that John became very good friends with guitarist Big Jim Sullivan. (Several years later, Sullivan would become the guitarist for the Welsh crooner Tom Jones.) Sullivan was really into Indian music. This intrigued McLaughlin, who still remembered the impact a few minutes of Indian